Summary

Although poverty is widely recognised as a multidimensional phenomenon, we still believe that monetary aspect has a fundamental role and therefore deserves a special treatment. For this reason we propose an individual unidimensional measure according to a fuzzy approach that, unlike conventional methods, is consistent with the vague nature of poverty and preserves all the available statistical information. Referred to the overall population, we use an Information Theory approach to design unidimensional fuzzy collective index. The methodology proposed here is illustrated by means of the Tunisia case.

JEL-Classification

P46I32D81

Keywords

fuzzy setspovertypoverty linemembership functioninformation function

Notes

The researchers wish to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments and reviews including all the important points raised.

Authors’ Affiliations

(1)

Higher Institute of Management, University of Tunisia, USA

(2)

University of Economics, University of Tunisia, USA

References

Berenger, V., and A. Verdier-Chouchane (2007), “Multidimensional Measures of Well-Being: Standard of Living and Quality of Life Across Countries”, World Development, 35 (7), pp. 1259–1276.View ArticleGoogle Scholar